Niantic, Inc. is the world’s leading augmented reality technology company, driving playful and interactive outdoor experiences. Originally part of Google, Niantic became an independent entity in 2015 and is now known for groundbreaking titles like Pokémon GO, Ingress, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Its mission focuses on merging advanced tech with real-world interactions to inspire movement, exploration, and social engagement.

The Software Engineer role at Niantic involves building robust, scalable server infrastructures for AR/Geo platforms that support millions of daily events. Candidates will face a rigorous interview process including technical screens and onsite interviews, focusing on coding, algorithms, and system design. This guide will walk you through Niantic’s interview stages, offering insights and tips to help you succeed. Prepare with Interview Query for a well-rounded readiness!

Submitting Your Application

The first step is to submit a compelling application that reflects your technical skills and interest in joining Niantic, Inc. as a Software Engineer. Whether you were contacted by a Niantic recruiter or have taken the initiative yourself, carefully review the job description and tailor your CV according to the prerequisites.

Tailoring your CV may include identifying specific keywords that the hiring manager might use to filter resumes and crafting a targeted cover letter. Furthermore, don’t forget to highlight relevant skills and mention your work experiences.

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

Once your CV is shortlisted, a recruiter from Niantic's Talent Acquisition Team will contact you to verify key details like your experiences and skill level. Behavioral questions may also be a part of the screening process.

In some cases, the hiring manager might join the call to answer your queries about the role and the company itself. They could indulge in surface-level technical and behavioral discussions.

This call generally takes about 30 minutes.

Technical Phone Screen

The next stage involves a technical phone screen. This will be a relatively simple interview focusing on a single coding question. Common algorithms or data structures problems (e.g., graph problems) may be asked in this round.

You might also be queried on your interests, knowledge in fields like GenAI/ML, and your willingness to relocate.

Virtual Onsite Interviews

The virtual onsite interviews are a series of 3 technical interviews, each lasting about an hour. Here’s what typically happens:

• Coding Interviews: Expect questions similar to LeetCode medium problems, primarily focusing on algorithms, data structures, and graph problems such as BFS.
• Behavioral Interview: This session will touch upon Niantic's values and your alignment with them.
• Project Deep Dive and System Design: You might be asked to discuss past projects in detail or face system design questions like designing a cloud-based system for data ingestion and machine learning.

Interviewers are technically competent and will be interested in discussing a range of issues.

Final Interview Loop

For some positions, you may have an additional final interview loop following the virtual onsite rounds. This could include: - Pair Programming: Testing your ability to collaborate and solve problems in real-time. - Design Interview: Specific problems focused on API design or AR solutions, such as API design for AR Voxels, or building a hash map.

Quick Tips For Niantic Software Engineer Interviews

Three key tips for Niantic Software Engineer interviews, based on collected experiences, are:

• Understand AR and Geo-Technology: Familiarize yourself with Niantic’s AR/Geo platform as their questions may touch on these areas.
• Brush Up On Common Algorithms: Practice solving graph-related problems and other typical coding challenges using resources like Interview Query.
• Be Ready to Discuss Past Projects: Be prepared to provide a deep dive into your previous work, ensuring you can discuss the technicalities and your problem-solving approaches in detail.

Typically, interviews at Niantic vary by role and team, but commonly Software Engineer interviews follow a fairly standardized process across these question topics.

• What are the Z and t-tests, and when should you use each? Explain the purpose and differences between Z and t-tests. Describe scenarios where one test is preferred over the other.

• What are the drawbacks of the given student test score data layouts, and how would you reformat them? Analyze the provided student test score datasets for potential issues. Suggest formatting changes to make the data more useful for analysis. Also, describe common problems in "messy" datasets.

• What metrics would you use to determine the value of each marketing channel? Given data on marketing channels and their costs, identify the metrics you would use to evaluate the value of each channel.

• How would you determine the next partner card using customer spending data? Using customer spending data, outline the process to identify the most suitable partner for a new partner card.

• How would you investigate if the redesigned email campaign led to the increase in conversion rate? Given the fluctuating conversion rates, describe how you would determine if the redesigned email campaign caused the recent increase in new-user to customer conversion rates, considering other potential factors.

• Write a function search_list to check if a target value is in a linked list. Write a function, search_list, that returns a boolean indicating if the target value is in the linked_list or not. You receive the head of the linked list, which is a dictionary with keys value and next. If the linked list is empty, you'll receive None.

• Write a query to find users who placed less than 3 orders or ordered less than $500 worth of product. Write a query to identify the names of users who placed less than 3 orders or ordered less than $500 worth of product. Use the transactions, users, and products tables.

• Create a function digit_accumulator to sum every digit in a string representing a floating-point number. You are given a string that represents some floating-point number. Write a function, digit_accumulator, that returns the sum of every digit in the string.

• Develop a function to parse the most frequent words used in poems. You're hired by a literary newspaper to parse the most frequent words used in poems. Poems are given as a list of strings called sentences. Return a dictionary of the frequency that words are used in the poem, processed as lowercase.

• Write a function rectangle_overlap to determine if two rectangles overlap. You are given two rectangles a and b each defined by four ordered pairs denoting their corners on the x, y plane. Write a function rectangle_overlap to determine whether or not they overlap. Return True if so, and False otherwise.

• How does random forest generate the forest and why use it over logistic regression? Explain the process of how random forest generates multiple decision trees to form a forest. Discuss the advantages of using random forest over logistic regression, such as handling non-linear data and reducing overfitting.

• When would you use a bagging algorithm versus a boosting algorithm? Compare two machine learning algorithms and describe scenarios where bagging is preferred over boosting. Provide examples of the tradeoffs, such as variance reduction in bagging and bias reduction in boosting.

• What kind of model predicts loan approval and how to compare credit risk models?

• Identify the type of model used to predict loan approval based on customer inputs.
• Describe how to measure the difference between two credit risk models over a timeframe, considering monthly loan installments.

• List metrics to track the success of the new model, such as accuracy, precision, recall, and AUC-ROC.

• What’s the difference between Lasso and Ridge Regression? Explain the key differences between Lasso and Ridge Regression, focusing on their regularization techniques and how they handle feature selection and multicollinearity.

• What are the key differences between classification models and regression models? Describe the main differences between classification and regression models, including their objectives, output types, and common use cases.

• How would you design a function to detect anomalies in univariate and bivariate datasets? If given a univariate dataset, how would you design a function to detect anomalies? What if the data is bivariate?

• What are the drawbacks of the given student test score data layouts, and how would you reformat them for better analysis? Assume you have data on student test scores in two layouts (dataset 1 and dataset 2). Identify the drawbacks of these layouts, suggest formatting changes for better analysis, and describe common problems in "messy" datasets.

• What is the expected churn rate in March for customers who bought a subscription since January 1st? You noticed that 10% of customers who bought subscriptions in January 2020 canceled before February 1st. Assuming uniform new customer acquisition and a 20% month-over-month decrease in churn, calculate the expected churn rate in March for all customers who bought the product since January 1st.

• How would you explain a p-value to a non-technical person? Describe what a p-value is in simple terms for someone who is not technical.

• What are Z and t-tests, and when should you use each? Explain what Z and t-tests are, their uses, differences, and when to use one over the other.

What is the average salary for a Software Engineer at Niantic, Inc.?

FAQ for Software Engineer Position at Niantic, Inc.

Q: What is the interview process at Niantic like? The interview process at Niantic includes an initial phone screen with a recruiter, followed by technical interviews involving coding challenges and algorithmic questions. Expect to participate in onsite or virtual interviews, and possibly tackle graph-related coding problems. The interview stages might also include behavioral interviews and a deep dive into past projects.

Q: What technical skills are essential for a Software Engineer role at Niantic? For a Software Engineer role at Niantic, proficiency in Java, Python, or C++ is fundamental. Experience with scalable cloud-based systems, knowledge of data structures and algorithms, and an understanding of real-time indexing and querying are essential.

Q: What kind of projects would I work on at Niantic? As a Software Engineer at Niantic, you would work on building server infrastructure for augmented reality (AR) and geo-based platforms that support popular titles like Pokémon GO and Ingress. This entails solving real-time data processing challenges at a massive scale.

Q: What is Niantic's company culture like? Niantic is a dynamic, innovative, and inclusive workplace. The company values intellectual curiosity, problem-solving abilities, and a passion for AR and gaming. Niantic fosters a supportive environment that encourages outdoor exploration, exercise, and meaningful social interactions.

Q: How can I prepare for the technical interviews at Niantic? To prepare for the technical interviews at Niantic, you should practice coding challenges, particularly those involving data structures and algorithms. Familiarize yourself with graph-related problems and review your understanding of cloud-based systems. Interview Query is a great resource for practicing these types of questions.

Considering a Software Engineer position at Niantic, Inc. brings you the opportunity to work on leading-edge technologies behind some of the world's most popular augmented reality games like Pokémon GO, Ingress, and more. The interview process includes initial recruiter screens, technical phone screens focused on coding and algorithm-based questions, followed by onsite interviews with a variety of technical challenges and behavioral questions. This holistic approach assesses your technical proficiency, problem-solving skills, and cultural fit.

If you want more insights about the company, check out our main Niantic Interview Guide, where we have covered many interview questions that could be asked. We’ve also created interview guides for other roles, such as software engineer and data analyst, where you can learn more about Niantic's interview process for different positions.

At Interview Query, we empower you to unlock your interview prowess with a comprehensive toolkit, equipping you with the knowledge, confidence, and strategic guidance to conquer every Niantic software engineer interview question and challenge.

You can check out all our company interview guides for better preparation, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Good luck with your interview!